Jennifer Gonzalez WLC 400 Overall Integrative Narrative Graduating as a Spanish major from California State University Monterey

Bay was not my very first choice as an incoming freshman. I was not really interested in improving my Spanish or expanding my knowledge on the culture and history of Mexico. As a native speaker I did not want to learn something that I thought I was already good at. Being born and raised in Mexico for nine years, I did not think it was necessary for me to further my knowledge in the Spanish language. Later, once I was in high school I was required to take Spanish courses and that is when I noticed that I still needed way more practice than I thought. Coming to college I started as a Biology major with a concentration in pre-medicine because I wanted to help lower income communities targeting Latino communities, but as time passed I realized I no longer had the passion for the major. I started looking into the majors offered on campus when I came across the Spanish major. While doing some further research I came to realize that by becoming a Spanish major I would still be able to focus on helping the Latino community. I chose the major because I came to the conclusion that whatever path I opt to in the future Spanish would come in handy in whether I am teaching the language, work for a court as an interpreter or work for an international business. Nowadays being bilingual is a must. This major is divided into two concentrations the literature and culture and the language and linguistics emphasis. Since I am a language and linguistics major I took more classes that focused on MLO 1 (Language Proficiency) and MLO 2 (Language and Linguistic Knowledge). Most classes that I have taken for the major have helped me improve my performance in speaking, listening, reading and writing in the target language at the advanced level of language proficiency. I have learned a lot from this major, I have gained some new skills and further my knowledge in existing skills. I am very proud of myself because after 3 semesters in this major I learned a lot. My initial goal at the beginning of my first semester as a Spanish major was to become more fluent in the Spanish language. Through all the classes that I took in the 3 semesters and the new friends I gained in the major I was able to practice my Spanish more inside and outside the classroom. I am still not at the point where I would like to be but that it was why I want to further my education beyond CSUMB. In the future as a Spanish major with an emphasis on Language and Linguistics I would like to further my knowledge in linguistics, my grammar and become more fluent in SpanishEnglish translation. I want to improve my language skills because after graduating from CSUMB I would like to attend the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in order to obtain a Masters in Translation and Interpretation.